


A Ride Home

by hops



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Amnesty, Canon-Typical Injury, Episode 11, Friendship, Gen, TAZ Amnesty, The Adventure Zone - Amnesty, how are we tagging ?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-07-05
Packaged: 2019-06-05 12:51:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15171149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hops/pseuds/hops
Summary: Duck hits his head pretty hard. After his close call, Aubrey insists on driving him home.(Amnesty ep. 11 spoilers)





	A Ride Home

**Author's Note:**

> aaaaaa this is my first time attempting amnesty fic so!! here u go! hope it's alright! i love these two and i hope they become best friends!!!!!

From the far side of the parking lot, Ned, Aubrey, and Duck stood, soaking wet and arms folded, leaning against the trunk of the Continental, staring at the ruins of the tower of slides of H2Woah That Was Fun from a distance. Ned kept coughing, no doubt from the water he’d inhaled, and Duck kept rubbing his eyes and ghosting the spot where he’d hit his head with cautious fingers. And Aubrey, Aubrey just couldn’t stop glancing over at him, trying to figure how to ask if he was okay, because obviously he wasn’t, but she still felt like she needed to ask. Partially because that’s the polite thing to do, and partially because Duck was her friend? Maybe? Yeah, once you saved someone from drowning with cool air powers you didn’t know you had, you were friends. That had to be a rule. And what if Duck had a concussion? And what if he bumped his head again, or he fell asleep? She couldn’t see his injury on the other side of his head, but she could assume that it wasn’t pretty.

She sighed, practicing the ways she could ask. _Hey, Duck, you okay? You hit your head pretty—_ no, that was stupid. Obviously.  _Don’t you think maybe you should go to the hospital?_ No, he would just shut that one down.  _You look kind of rough, do you need—_ well, she didn’t want to insult the man.

Aubrey shivered, though the air wasn’t all that cold. Her denim vest was weighed down with water, but as she counted each portion of the front, then turned around and pulled on the vest to see the back, all pins and patches were accounted for.

“You lose any?” Duck asked from beside her, sounding a little faint.

Aubrey laughed quietly. “No. We’re good.”

“Well, good. Would hate to hear that.”

Ned leaned away from the trunk and sighed loudly. “Well, I think I should be off to the Cryptonomica, and to dry out these pants. I’ll see you both at the lodge, whenever we’re…”

Aubrey threw one hand into a salute. “‘Til next hunt, partner.”

Duck stepped away from the car and wavered a bit. “See you, Ned. Take care of yourself.”

Aubrey wrapped her arms tighter around herself, watching the Continental heading out into the night and feeling ill-equipped for the situation at hand. Duck was supposed to be giving her a ride back to the lodge, but she felt bad even asking, and she wasn’t so sure he should be driving, anyway.

“How are you, um, feeling?” Aubrey finally  asked, leaning against the side of the park service truck. “I know that’s a dumb question, but, like… You, uh…”

“Yeah, I wanged it pretty bad out there, huh.” Duck said flatly, looking out at the dark water park. “Hope Pigeon got home alright. Sure she’s fine.”

Duck turned to unlock the truck door with his key but instead pressed his free hand to the window to hold himself up, blinking a few times. He shook his head and made a mild noise of frustration as he reached up to his head.

“Duck, do you want me to drive? I can— Let me drive you home, I’ll come back first thing in the morning with the truck. Or you should stay at the lodge, see if we can get you patched up.”

“I’m fine. You don’t have to worry about it. I’ve got that…. _chosen one_ armor or whatever nonsense. So…”

Aubrey fiddled with her finger by her side, sending a tiny spark out onto the pavement with every nervous flick against her thumb. “I think I’m gonna have Barclay come back for a ride, then, if it’s all the same.” It wasn’t even that _she_ didn’t want to go with Duck, it was that she didn’t want him driving at all, with or without her. And she hoped that maybe bringing the Lodge into it might change his mind.

“Aubrey, don’t— You don’t need to be all—” Duck stammered, then shook his head. “Alright, you just drive if it’s gonna make you feel better. Head hurts anyway.”

He and Aubrey traded spots. As she climbed into the driver’s seat, the leather stuck to the back of her wet thighs. She suddenly regretted shorts, though the early fall weather was surprisingly warm.

Duck got in on the other side of the truck and shut the door firmly behind him, silent as he buckled his seatbelt and settled into the seat. As Aubrey pulled out of the parking spot and the water park got further and further away, Duck’s eyes fell shut as he sighed once again.

“Maybe don’t sleep?” Aubrey said, more as a question than even a suggestion. “They say if you have a concussion, you’re not supposed to—”

“I don’t have a concussion, Aubrey, I’m fine.”

“Duck—”

“Are you gonna drive this slow the whole way? ‘Cause I still have to feed the cat, so…”

From behind them, Beacon clucked his tongue. “Oh, Duc-k Newton, you managed to survive. How do you—”

“Beacon!” Aubrey and Duck said in unison, Duck looking over his shoulder and Aubrey looking into the rearview mirror at the sword laying in the back of the cab, a smug smile on his iron lips.

“Fine, fine! I await the day I aid Aubrey Little in her quest for greatness, for she seems to have the willpower to wield such a—”

“Later, Beacon? Please, my head is…” Duck put a hand over his eyes.

“Are you sure we shouldn’t go to the hospital? Maybe we should go to the hospital.”

“I’m good. Really, I just want to go home.”

“Okay, yeah. No, sorry. I know, I just don’t…”

They drove in silence for a while, the winding roads and long stretches of trees along the way to Duck’s place created a kind of surreal tunnel of darkness around them, lit only by the headlights of the truck. It wasn’t very often that Aubrey felt genuinely afraid, but if there was a time, it was probably now.  A series of memories of the water park and the days before played on a loop in her mind, Duck hitting his head and sinking down deep under the water the thought at the very front of it. They’d gone into that hunt hastily, and without Mama’s guidance, and it showed. And now her lung felt all messed up, Ned was probably banged up, and Duck looked pretty bad, if she was being honest. She glanced over to check on him as she drove, his expressionless face illuminated only by the greenish glow of the dashboard display. She was relieved to find him still breathing, then scolded herself for being so dramatic. But still, she worried, and she drove onwards, and she checked again.

“Are you coming to the lodge? I really think Barclay should at least give you the once-over.” She thought of Mama again and wondered where she was. Thought, wishfully, that maybe she’d miraculously be back when they got there and she could talk some sense into Duck where Aubrey couldn’t.

“Aubrey, please, I just wanna—” Duck rubbed his eyes. “I wanna go home. I’m sorry. Really. I’ll be okay.”

“Yeah, okay. Okay.” Aubrey said softly, almost apologetically, glancing at him once more but focusing on the road when she saw his eyes were open. She took a turn off the main road and headed down towards Duck’s place.

After a short and silent ride down the side streets, Aubrey pulled into Duck’s parking spot and turned the engine off. They sat in silence for a minute before Duck cleared his throat.

“Thanks, uh, for drivin’. I probably shouldn’t have been doing that, in hindsight, yeah.”

“No problem.”

Duck sighed and leaned forward in the seat, undoing his seatbelt. “I… Uh… Thanks, for savin’ my bacon back there and all. I’d probably be at the bottom of the reservoir if it weren’t for your quick thinkin’ so… yeah.”

“Yeah, kind of scared the shit out of me,” Aubrey laughed, an edge of nervousness in the sound. “Maybe get hurt in more shallow water next time? Or like, something I can use cooler magic on? We can workshop it.”

Duck laughed too loudly for his head injury and recoiled for a moment at the noise. Aubrey watched as he climbed out of the cab, then reached behind the seats and pulled Beacon, still grinning, out with him. He stood by the truck for a long moment, looking up at the building through squinted eyes. By the light of the sole streetlamp, she could see the nasty bruise, accented by a little blood, on the side of his head. Still, Aubrey decided not to say anything. Duck already had his mind made up.

Duck looked back at her and nodded slightly. “You did good today, Aubrey,” he said. “You should be proud of yourself.”

Aubrey quickly covered her flattered smile with a quip. “I know. We can get celebratory Dairy Queen another night, though. This time it’s on you.”

Duck chuckled and shook his head, shutting the door and speaking to Aubrey through the open window. “You be careful with her, alright? Park Service can’t hear I loaned her out.”

“Cross my heart. What time should I come back?”

“Uh, dunno, maybe 10. I’m not going to work tomorrow, that’s for sure.”

“Good! How do you take your coffee?”

Duck chuckled again, turning and starting to head for the stairs. Aubrey poked her head out of her open window and called after him, “Duck! How do you take your coffee?”

Duck waved one arm, opening the door to the complex. “Extra extra!” he called over his shoulder, and with that he waved goodbye without looking and closed the door behind him.

Aubrey smiled to herself and turned the key in the ignition, backing out from Duck’s spot and heading for home.


End file.
